Umm... Well, if you equate current to electrons, neither of you is "right."
If you measure peak voltage, than he's right in one regard, the voltage does
fluctuate. The electrons don't get a chance to go anywhere, really, as the
polarity of the electric field keeps reversing. Think of it this way: even
the ground has electrons. The electric field of the neutral (theoretically)
is the same as the ground, leading to no electric potential between the two
(ground does have a charge, but everything is relative to it). Hot,
however, has a potential relative to ground of 120v RMS (US). This is, in
one cycle the field goes 0 to (-)120 (can't remember the actual peak
voltage) to 0 to (+)120 to 0. When the cycle is negative, electrons move a
short distance from the hot wire to the neutral. When it is positive, it
attracts electrons from the neutral to the hot. Now, on a good day it is
safe to handle a live neutral, but I've read 80v from a neutral before, and
almost always get zapped.
Oh, the above holds true to single phase only. Dual phase is a little more
complicated because it involves the interaction of two fields relative to
each other... And I don't trust electricians; been in too many situations
where I've been shocked by shabby work and end up fixing it myself. You'd
find a physics book more informative than your electrician for sure.

--

____________________________________

Brandon Anderson
Lighting, Sound, and Video

http://www.bdanderson.com/


"apa" wrote in message
om...
I was talking to an electrician doing some work in my building and
started asking some questions about AC. My electrical knowledge is
quite limited, but in the course of the conversation, I said something
about the the flow of current reversing direction twice every 60th of
a second. He said "No, the ACTUAL current always flows in one
direction from the hot to the neutral and it's the AMOUNT of current
flowing that alternates." Isn't that the definition of modulated DC,
not AC? I couldn't make any sense of his explanation of what he meant
by "actual current", but he insisted that current flows in ONE
DIRECTION ONLY. I really don't get what he's talking about - but he's
the professional. Can someone fill me in?